What is multi vendor?
The multi vendor business model is defined as a zero inventory model where the brand owner creates a platform and brings together multiple vendors/sellers who sell similar or different products and services to the customers. The owner does not need to maintain an inventory, instead the vendors who are onboarded to sell on the platform take care of the inventory and logistics processes.
These vendors bring in their own inventory and manage their products, orders they receive and their shipments. Whereas the admin has to manage the platform and look after the technical and marketing aspects of the platform. The customers enjoy a rich catalogue and competitive pricing. However, it is important to choose the best multi vendor ecommerce platform to be able to offer customized buyer journeys to the customers.
The multi vendor business model is extremely popular among customers and has redefined their online shopping experience. Almost all online customers have a couple of multi vendor marketplaces on their smartphones that help them in their day-to-day lives, like Big Basket for grocery needs and Amazon for almost everything!
What are the different types of multi vendor marketplace
Every multi vendor marketplace works on the same principle, i.e. multiple sellers or vendors come together to sell their products or services on a common platform. However, there are different types of marketplaces based on business models and product/service categories.
Multi vendor online stores based on business models:
B2C marketplace selling goods and services directly to the customers, like Amazon, Flipkart
B2B marketplaces that sell goods and services to other businesses, like IndiaMART
P2P marketplace that connects two or more people who want to buy or sell similar or different products, like OLX
Multi vendor portal categories based on products and services
Horizontal marketplace that sells a variety of products, like Amazon
Vertical marketplace that deals in a specific product line, like FirstCry
Service aggregator that brings together the service of various providers on a single platform, like Zomato
Rental marketplace that offers products on rent, like Rentmojo
Hybrid marketplaces that also sell a variety of products and stream services like Amazon and its OTT platform Amazon Prime
Hyperlocal marketplaces that make products or services available quickly within a small location, like Big Basket
Custom marketplaces that are built on innovative, disruptive business models
Businesses of every scale and size can choose any of the business models and categories to build their own multi vendor marketplace. With a comprehensive multi vendor ecommerce solution like StoreHippo, businesses can build any model or category of the multi vendor marketplace and start selling their products or services to their customers. StoreHippo offers well rounded features, tools, and modules for managing day to day business of an online brand.
How to identify the best multi vendor ecommerce platform?
While building an online marketplace, it becomes crucial to be mindful of the platform and choosing only what’s best for the business and its futuristic goals. Going ahead, managing the day to day business, running the brand and accelerating the growth of the business, all depends on the ecommerce solution chosen to build the marketplace.
The best multi vendor ecommerce platform must have the following features:
Cutting edge technology to keep the marketplace brand ahead of the competition
Easy customizations for unique needs of the multi vendor website
End to end vendor onboarding and management solutions
M commerce solutions to build marketplace apps or PWA powered online marketplace stores
Easy to add new customer touch points to go omnichannel
Offer secure platform along with secure payment options for ordering
Inherent scalability so the site works well even during peak load times
Cost effective solution with no hidden charges
In-built marketing tools to boost sales through promotions and discounts
StoreHippo, the best multi vendor ecommerce platform is designed to offer a futuristic solution to brands planning to build their online marketplaces. It enables the brands to create a niche by offering one stop solution to build, run, and grow their businesses. StoreHippo offers turnkey solutions to easily create the marketplace, use adaptive payments to split the multi-product order’s payment between vendors, add multi-layer discounts etc. Brands can also create hybrid business models by smartly combining their multi vendor marketplace with other popular business models.
Why StoreHippo is the best multi vendor ecommerce solution?
StoreHippo, the multi vendor ecommerce solution provider, offers battle-tested solutions that help the brands build innovative marketplaces. With the decoupled headless architecture and cutting-edge solutions, brands get better creative control to experiment with their online marketplace. Developers and marketers get the agility to build custom solutions best suited to their business needs.
Built on the mobile-first approach StoreHippo is the best multi vendor ecommerce platform that enables brands to run, grow, and experiment with their business. With built in apps for sellers, admin(s), delivery boys etc. along with customer facing marketplace app, brands can run their businesses from anywhere. Enterprise brands can leverage m commerce to sell faster and engage better using StoreHippo marketplace builder. Marketplaces powered by StoreHippo are PWA stores that look, work and feel like apps on all devices and can even work in areas with poor connectivity.
StoreHippo is integrated with 60+ domestic and international payment gateways that makes the payment and checkout processes frictionless. It also supports multiple payment methods, like digital wallets, store wallets, net banking UPI etc. StoreHippo platform also has built-in go global features like multi store, multi lingual and multi currency, which makes transition to global markets seamless.
StoreHippo is the ideal fit for large enterprises looking to grow quickly. With the enterprise-grade features, brands can create a custom multi vendor marketplace in a few easy steps. Take a StoreHippo tour by creating a 14-day free trial store now.
